Seeking for answers, one night I struck a conversation with the guards about the position of the university and what they are doing to contain the problem of the dogs. And this is my report. When I first arrived at our university – I saw dogs, and I thought; “Oh I see, the guards and the university staff keeps dogs as pets on campus and that’s normal”.

This was reinforced by people’s attitudes because everyone else didn’t give much thought to the dogs. But, why do I see dozens running around campus, the halls, and the Sir Colin Campbell patio tables for leftover food after midnight?

These dogs are in truth, wild, because to own one you would need a license. Secondly, I don’t see any frantic owner calling their dogs back home. The dogs have been here since the beginning of UNMC as far as the guards can remember. They would usually enter through the fence even though it has been reinforced and height-adjusted; they will still find ways such as through open sewages.

Currently, the numbers of wild dogs could not be estimated – but during mating season the smell would be noticeable – especially when the female is present.

I asked if any action have been taken against the dogs, and yes, shooting was the answer. But to do so it had to be done on open spaces. The deceased dogs are then replaced by newborns. The guards don’t know where they all come from, but they theorize that the owners were Indians from some near settlement. Numerous shootings have occurred for a long time, but there was no visible difference and has long been discontinued. The wild dogs are shot outside in the open fields away from UNMC, to minimize the risk of injuring someone on campus, of course.

Has these dogs bitten anyone? Yes. These are not rabid dogs, however there were such cases where a man started running from a pack of dogs and dogs being funny animals, started running with him. The secret is – do not start running away from them. But the limitation is the students – apparently some of them didn’t allow these to happen. However, the question arises – the wellbeing of the students and the halls plus the university’s image or animals rights?

Furthermore, some actually feed the dog and this is not advisable. They would also scavenge for leftover food in the rubbish bins placed outside on-campus doors or the leftovers at Colin Building, becoming mini canteens for these wild dogs. Its fine that bin is placed outside of our rooms – just the food we dump in them isn’t. Some solutions include making the fence smaller – to no effect since the problem originated outside. Shooing them away is just a short-term solution.

Halls have also been secured with doors on each wing covered in wire and the posted signs remind people to keep the hall doors shut at all times. Due to the diversity of the student population, even the SPCA was discouraged to take action including catching due to some of their “concern’s on animals’ rights”.

The ‘main’ entrance for these dogs would be behind the sports complex near the nursery and the place where they live, according to the guards, is underneath the library and behind the Yellow building.

An OPINION to solve the problems was this: Make some poisoned Ramli burgers and drop it off where the dogs would hang out.

I thought to myself “Perhaps we could do this without telling the students” (this was my opinion).

If you feel there is anything important to report, please contact the Security Officer. But I believe that ultimately, it is the Management’s decision on how best to solve this problem, in whichever way will work best.